Attachment for railroad flat cars



I March 11, 1958 J. L. HALL 2,826,156

ATTACHMENT FOR RAILROAD FLAT CARS Filed March so, 1954 ITZZ/QflZO? 772125 1. Ha/[ United States Patent Q 2,826,156 ATTACHMENT FOR RAILROAD FLAT CARS James L. Hall, Des Moines, Iowa Application March 30, 1954, Serial No. 419,666 1 Claim. (Cl. 105-369) This invention relates to railroad flat cars and more particularly to a removable attachment for positioning across the end of the flat car to restrict longitudinal shifting of the load. carried by the flat car. Railroad fiat cars have been used very extensively for many, many years. While flat cars possess certain advantageous features over railroad box cars in that they are less expansive and can be more easily loaded and unloaded from the sides and top thereof, they possess and. have possessed for the many years that they have been used, a serious deficiency, or disability. This deficiency is that during sudden acceleration changes, such as occurs in starting. and stopping, there is a tendency for the load carried on top of the flat car to shift longitudinally of the flat car, and when the load shifts it may pass over the end of the flat car and strike a load on. an adjacent flat car, or strike the walls of an adjacent boX- car, thereby causing damage either to itself, or to the adjacent car, or to the load carried by the adjacent car.

While this situation has existed for man many years and while damage to loads and to railroad equipment has been, annually, in the amount of many thousands of dollars, no successful economical solution to this problem has ever been suggested.

One reason that this problem has never been successfully solved is that the means for meeting the problem must be simple and economically practical, and must not destroy the advantageous features of flat cars heretofore noted. Apparently until now, no invention has ever been able tomeet these requirements.

Accordingly, it is one object of this invention to provide a novel attachment for use in combination. with railroad flat cars which, when positioned upon a railroad flat car, will operate to restrict longitudinal shifting of loads carried thereby and will, thereby, protect the loads and adjacent railroad cars from damage occasioned by shifting loads.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel attachment for railroad flat cars which is operative to restrict shifting of loads carried by said flat cars and which attachment does not detract, in any substantial manner, from the advantageous features of fiat cars, such as free access for loading and unloading of the flat car throughout the entire length of the flat car.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel attachment for railroad flat cars which is operative to restrict shifting of loads carried by said flat cars and which is characterized by its simplicity of operation and inexpensiveness of construction and maintainence.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize this invention will be pointed outwith particularity in the claims annexed to and forming part of this specification.

A preferred embodiment of this invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation view of a railroad flat car, having mounted on each of its ends the railroad flat car attachment of this invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the flat car attachment;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation view taken substantially on line 3-3 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a detail cross-section view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Referring now to the figures, there is shown in Figure 1 a railroad flat car generally indicated at 10, which car includes a floor 12 appropriately mounted on wheel supported trucks 14. An attachment, generally indicated at 16, is shown provided at each end of the roalroad fiat car. In the preferred use of the invention, attachments 16 are provided at both ends of a flat car, although an attachment 16 may be used at only one end of a fiat car, as desired.

in its broadest terms, the attachment 16 includes spaced, parallel guide rails 18, an upright barrier 20, and means for detachably securing the barrier 20 to the rails 18.

in particular, the guide rails 18 are each in a form of an angle iron, one leg of which serves as a mounting leg 22 and the other leg of which extends upwardly to define an upwardly extending leg, or rail portion, 24. Each mounting leg 22 is rigidly secured to floor 12 of the flat car by any appropriate means, such as bolts 26 and cooperating nuts 2%. Any appropriate washers and lock washers may be provided. The use of bolts 26 and cooperating nuts 28 provides that the guide rails are removable from the flat car, as desired, although the rails may be more permanently attached to the car, such as by welding or the like. While the rails 18, as shown in the particular form of this invention, are mounted on the upper side of the floor 12 of the flat car, it will be appreciated that the rails may also be mounted on the lateral longitudinal edges of the floor 12, as desired.

The guide rails 13 are elongated and extend from adjacent one end of the fiat car inwardly. Each pair of spaced, parallel guide rails 18 are positioned adjacent the opposite longitudinal edges of the flat car. The guide rails 18 are so positioned relative to the end of the flat car that there is a slight overhang 313 which extends beyond the terminal end of the flat car. This slight overhang St} permits the positioning of the barrier 20 on the guide rails 18 at a position immediately above the terminal end of the car, thereby providing means for mounting the barrier 20 on the flat car without reducing the longitudinal capacity of the flat car. In an actual design of this invention the overall length of each rail 18 is 8' 8" and the over hang is 9". A typical angle used is of a dimension 3 X 3" x /4".

Referring now to the upright barrier 20, said barrier is generally rectangular in shape and has an upper edge 32, a rail engaging edge 34, and side edges 36. The barrier also includes a central depending portion 38, which may be appropriately attached to the barrier, or may be formed integral therewith as shown. This central depending portion 38 extends below the rail engaging edge 34 of the barrier and defines rail engaging portions which are positioned between the upstanding rail portions 24 in closely adjacent relation thereto. The rail engaging portions of said depending portion 38 are adapted to engage and cooperate with the upstanding rail portions 24 to re strict lateral movement of the barrier 2d.

The barrier 2th is generally in an upright position, preferably vertical, and is positioned just above the terminal end of flooor 12 of the flat car 10, and may, if desired, be positioned just outwardly of the terminal end of the flat car. The barrier 2t) rests on the upper edges of the rails 13 and is slidably mounted thereon for reciprocal movement therealong.

The barrier 20 may be made of any material of appropriate strength, such as aluminum, steel, or reinforced wood. In an actual design of the barrier 20, plywood is used as the main element of the barrier and the wood is reinforced along its edges by steel angles of size 1" X 1" x and by vertical stiifener angles 40, of the size 2" X 2" X The rectangular barrier 20 carries adjacent each corner thereof an attaching member 42, the upper attaching members being denoted 42 and the lower attaching members being denoted 52a. Each attaching member 42 is slidably positioned in a bore 44 through the barrier 20. Each attaching member 42 is threaded, at one end, as at 46, to receive a nut 48 thereon. The upper attaching members 42 have an eye 50 formed at the other end, while the lower attaching members 42a have a hook 51 formed at the other end, for reasons which will become apparent as the description proceed-s.

Resilient mounting means are provided for each attaching member 42 by means of pairs of oppositely facing rubber bumpers 5254 and 5658 located on opposite sides of the barrier 20. Each rubber bumper consists of an annular rubber member appropriately mounted on a metal Washer which provides both support for the rubber member and a reacting surface for cooperation f with members against which the rubber bumpers are adapted to bear. Positioned between each pair of rubber bumpers are coiled compression springs 60 and 62. The springs 60 and 62 provide resilient mountings between the barrier 20 and the attaching members 42, and the arrangement of springs on opposite sides of the barrier 20 accommodates movement of the barrier 20 in either of two opposite directions relative to the attaching members 42.

For connecting the barrier 20 to the rails 18 there is provided a pair of upstanding flanges 64 which are appropriately secured, such as by welding, to legs 24 of the rails 18 at positions between the barrier 20 and the inner terminal ends of the rails. The flanges 64 are apertured at 66 permitting hooking of the hook 51 of attaching members 42a therethrough. For securing the upper attaching members 42 to the rails 18 there are provided rigid links 68 having hooks 70 and 72 formed at their terminal ends. The hook 70 is hooked through the eye 50 of the attaching members 42, and the other hooks 72 are hooked through apertures, or bores, 74 in the upstanding leg 24 of the rails 18 at points close to the inner terminal ends of the rails. The attachment of the barrier 20 to the flanges 64 and to the rails 18 close to the inner terminal ends of the rails thereby provides connection of the upstanding barrier 20 to the rails 18 at spaced points therealong. The rigid links 68 are capable of resisting both compressive and tensile forces that may be applied thereto.

It will be appreciated that the arrangement of hooks and eyes provides means for simple mounting and dismounting of the barrier 20. The links 68 may be easily disconnected and laid fiat against the floor 12 of the car to permit substantially free lateral access through the side of the flat ear to the load thereon.

While there has been shown and described a particular embodiment of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein withoutwieparting from the invention and, therefore, it is intended in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

A removable attachment for use in combination with an elongated railroad flat car; said removable attachment comprising a pair of spaced elongated guide rails having upwardly extending rail portions which are parallel to each other, said guide rails being adapted to be secured to said fiat car adjacentopposite longitudinal edges of said car, a removably mounted upright rectangular barrierof substantially the same Width as said flat car slidably supported on said guide rails adjacent one end thereof for reciprocal movement thereon, said barrier carrying thereon rail engaging portions which are positioned between and closely adjacent said upwardly extending rail portions and are adapted to engage said upwardly extending rail portions for restraining said barrier from lateral movement, resilient mounting means carried on said barrier including attaching members slidably extending through said rectangular barrier adjacent each corner thereof, spring means engaging opposite sides of said barrier and being carried by each said attaching memher for resiliently mounting said barrier for movement thereof relative to said attaching member-s, and hook means detachably securing said attaching members, and thereby said barrier, to said rails.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 63 8,201 Petro Nov. 28, 1899 841,246 Hartnett Jan. 15, 1907 1,023,902 Wehmiller Apr. 23, 1912 1,327,894 Wroclawski Jan. 13, 1920 1,978,148 Stacey Oct. 23, 1934 2,407,091 McM-ullen Sept. 3, 1946 2,720,849 Prati Oct. 18, 1955 

